It appears that one of my favorite publishers of classic mysteries, the Rue Morgue Press, has gone out of business. According to some comments published in TomCat's "Beneath the Stains of Time" blog and a longer appreciation in JJ's "The Invisible Event" blog, a combination of factors - including books seriously damaged by flood waters and both financial and health problems - has led the RMP to shut down; its website seems to have disappeared.
This is terrible news, to put it mildly. Tom Schantz and his late wife Enid were pioneers in republishing some of the great - and often little-known - classic authors and their works, long before many of today's smaller presses got into the business. RMP was responsible for republishing several of the finest John Dickson Carr mysteries, but they also specialized in other first rate, if often obscure, mysteries. RMP introduced me to Dorothy Bowers, Glyn Carr, Clyde B. Clason, Gladys Mitchell, Craig Rice, Kelley Roos, Margaret Scherf and many more authors of the Golden Age of Detective Fiction and beyond. Each book had a brief, literate and entertaining introduction written by Tom and Enid which provided information about the author and his/her works. The Rue Morgue Press books remain centerpieces of my classic mystery collection. I'll miss them.
Oh no! I love their books too! I wish the website was still up so we could at least look at what books were published and maybe look for them on Amazon or something. I wish the owner well though through his difficulties.
Posted by: Peggy Ann | February 16, 2016 at 09:29 PM
Peggy Ann, you can always contact your favorite mystery bookstore and ask about available titles from the RMP, or, if you don't have a mystery bookstore, you can search for Rue Morgue Press on Amazon. If you do that, you'll also come across some non-RMP titles (particularly Poe's book!), but there are several screens full of RMP books that are still available - just click on the quick link to Amazon on the upper right corner of this screen.
Posted by: Les Blatt | February 17, 2016 at 07:13 AM